P.S. I was playing around with some Photoshop Actions on the photographs above. They're interesting to work with but this one is not my style. I'll keep fiddling around and see what else I can come up with.

Summer 2011 has been good to us so far. June and the first few weeks of July were a blur for me as I was busy preparing for our PACKAGING 101 workshops [both of which were so much fun]. Then for 2.5 weeks the boys and I spent time in California visiting family and friends. Once we returned from the Land of Sunshine the boys participated in summer camps and here we are with only three weeks until school starts. After this week we will be finished with camps [but still doing the beloved swim lessons] and I'm looking forward to going on a few little adventures with the boys and enjoying all this time we have together.

The boys have a four-day weekend and unfortunately I do not but we always make it work. I wish I could play all weekend long but there are too many deadlines in the next few weeks. I'm having fun preparing for j's 6th birthday party [did I say SIX?] and working on our upcoming PACKAGING101 workshop. My new hanging to do list is helping me out in the time management department so that is good news! Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

It appears my goal of posting every day this month was a bit ambitious. I had good intentions but the last week of school kind of did me in. I was busy coordinating + preparing for two classroom winter parties and packing + shipping Christmas presents for our families. Now that we're officially on vacation I am looking forward to finishing up holiday decorations, making some last minute Christmas gifts, working on fun crafts with the boys + enjoying time with my family. Hope you all have a great day!

I think these photo booth strips taken at Ace Hotel in Portland pretty much sum up Days 10-12. My dear friend Bonnie and her daughter Venise were visiting over the weekend. Their visit started off with big hugs and hand holding and ended with even bigger hugs and more hand holding [and a bunch of tears]. It was a wonderful weekend of hanging out at the house with the kids watching Christmas movies [Day 10 advent calendar activity], decorating ornaments + making gingerbread houses [Day 11] and painting little wooden people [Day 12]. We also were able to take our LA girls to some PDX restaurants [Tasty N Sons, Little Big Burger, Toro Bravo, Screen Door] and enjoy some down time at Powells and Ace Hotel. Fun times with good friends, doesn't get much better than that. [I am in love with the way Bonnie documents life and you can see more photographs of her adventure in PDX here.]

Once every 3-4 months I like to do a little clean out of the boys' playroom. Although they are responsible for tidying up their playroom every evening before they go to bed, it is amazing how little piles of papers + craft creations build up over a few months. I decided today's advent activity would involve cleaning up their playroom as well as donating toys that are no longer being used by the boys.

And as much as I try to limit the number of toys that come into our house there are some things that I cannot resist buying for the boys. You might remember the sweet Sally doll that Jennifer of Sophie & Lili created. Well, I kind of begged Jennifer to design some boy dolls for me and look what she came up with! J + j superhero dolls!! I was so excited when she emailed me the sketches of the dolls [hello, striped tees!] and they are even more cute in person. I am trying really hard to wait until Christmas to give the boys their dolls.

I love the front view of the dolls but the backs are also super sweet.

And here I am with my two favorite boys. Hmm...I'm wondering if I should order an Appah doll next.